I was reading blog posts today and found one I wanted to post a comment to, however, the site appears to still be suffering from it's bug that is not allowing comments at the moment, so I decided to respond to the blog post with another blog post and send it to the writer or that post instead.
Well, here is the post in question and my answer to it:
http://ministers.themonastery.org/blogs/13295/3157/a-question-for-the-christian-ulc
You know, you are asking some very good questions here. I'd actually like to take some time and answer them, because I think they could apply to my own bio-info as well. I'll try to answer them in the same order you asked them.
Okay, first I'd like to comment on where you said "...that being a minister within the ULC would require...".
Now, I'm guessing here, the way it's worded, that you are thinking that being ordained here = being a Minister of the ULC? (I could be reading this wrong, sorry, if I am.)
Well, I can see your point, and yes, I would assume that a lot plan to start ULC Congregations and preach ULC doctrines. This was not the case with me however. You see, I spent over 25 years going to 30+ different denominations of churches/religions (Christian, Pagan, African, Native American, and Eastern) in search of one that would ordain me so that I could START MY OWN RELIGION.
I ran into several problems along the way: first I'm a woman, and a surprising number of religions refus to ordain women. Secondly, I was looking to start my own religious denomination, and so, when I did find a church that ordained women, I still was not allowed to be ordained, because they required I be a member of their religion and only preach in their churches. But I don't believe the basic standard views of any other the standard religions, thus the reason I was trying to get an ordination!
Oh, a side note, I live in Maine, and Maine law required that before you can start a religion, you first have to have a church with a following, and Maine law requires a church to be founded ONLY by a licensed certified ordained minister who was ordained by a church with no less than a 10 year history. Thus why I was required to seek out an ordination and why I was limited in the churches I could seek ordination from. Other states may have different laws, but those are the laws in my state.
So, years go by, before one day I was talking online with a minister friend, telling him my situation, and he said: "Do what I did - get ordained with the ULC", and that's how I found this place. I was ordained that very same day, without never having heard of the ULC before and having no idea what they stood for, because I read in their FAQ where, I could be ordained without having to join their religion, and it said that they often ordained those who were looking to start their own church and/or religion.
So in my case, I was ordained BY the ULC, but I am not a MEMBER of the ULC's religion, and I think that is probably the case with others here, thus why you see their bios reading the way they do.
You said:"...it's always been my understanding of Christian faiths that they believe that the only path to 'salvation' is though acceptance of Jesus Christ...."
I agree that this is generally the case. I however was raised Mormon, which is a Christian religion, that does not have mainstream Christian beliefs. One of the glaring differences between Mormonism and standard Christianity is the trinity or Godhead. Standard Christianity preaches 3 beings in one and God made man, yadda, yadda. Mormonism on the other hand does not, they teach God and Jesus as 2 separate and distinct beings the father and his son and that Jesus is NOT God, and is only the Savior in that he guides you to God. Most Christians therefor worship Jesus as God, but Mormons do not.
Well, anyways, that is the belief system I was raised under, which brings me to your next question:"... Why aren't you a member of an explicitly *Christian* organization?..."
In leaving Mormonism and trying out Christianity, I discovered that it was impossible for me to belong to any of the standard Christian religions, because, regardless of my differences with other Mormon teachings, I still DO NOT believe the standard Christian view of Jesus as God or God made man or the whole salvation through the acceptance of Jesus as God. It is simply too alien a concept for me to think that Jesus made Mary pregnant so he could be born, I mean, come on talk about fairy tales!
You said:"... The ULC claims that there is more than one path to spiritual growth and that the Christian Bible is not to be accorded any unique status, and as such that's in direct opposition to the idea that there's only ONE way through Jesus?..."
This was exactly the problem I was having with the Mormon church. They believe one path to God through temple work and baptisms of the dead. I just could not agree with this. They were basically saying, that EVERY ONE even people like Ghandi and Mother Teresa who lived perfect blameless lives, was going to burn in hell for eternity, if they did not go to the temple and join the Mormon Church, and thus why Mormons were required to be baptized for the "wicked non-Mormon gentiles" by proxy, taking on the dead person's name, pretending to be the dead person, and becoming a Mormon as that dead person. It didn't matter how good and saintly you were, if you died without being baptized a Mormon, you were going to hell.
Well, I just could not agree with that! On one hand they teach a kind loving God and than they say he's just going to abandon every body who is not a Mormon? What the hell kind of a loving God does that?
But than I go to the standards Christian churches and I find they basically say the same thing: no matter how good you are if you did not accept Jesus as your Savior, you are going to hell!
Well, I just don't believe that! I believe that if you are doing good and helping others and being an honest person, that God is going to welcome you to heaven with open arms, regardless of what church you attended!
I personally believe that all churches and religions that hold that immortality is gained by morality (care, concern, and action for the physical and psychological well being of others) are worshiping different spiritual manifestations of the same God/Creator/Spirit/whatever you want to call it; I believe God can take many forms. God can appear as a man or a woman. I believe God uses many names. I believe that God created many religions because he knew no one religion was right for every one. I believe that God is good and God loves us, no matter what and that in the end as long as you are a good person, it doesn't matter what religion you belong to or wither you belong to one or not or wither you even believe in God or not!
As for Jesus? I believe Jesus was a great and wonderful person who tried to live a perfect blameless life and spent his life in service to others, and that every one should strive to live by his "love one another creed". I believe he was the son of God, but that the meaning of finding God through Jesus, is by living a life in loving peaceful service to others, not by worshiping Jesus as a God. So I don't think Jesus is the ONLY way, I think he is one of MANY ways, and the way that is personally best for me in my own life.
Well, that's how I look at it anyways, so that's how I answer your questions.
~Sister Wendy
